The Cuban opposition figure José Daniel Ferrer issued an urgent plea on social media this Saturday to save the life of a baby under two months old who is in critical condition in Cuba due to the lack of an antibiotic that is unavailable in the country.
Ferrer, leader of the Cuban Patriotic Union (UNPACU), posted the message on his X account warning that the newborn may die if it does not receive the medication in time.
"A baby under 2 months old can die from a lack of antibiotics in Cuba. Let's save this newborn. If anyone can help get the medicine here as soon as possible, please message me at +1 305 970 8858. Thank you," wrote Ferrer.
The request does not specify the name of the antibiotic that the baby needs. Anyone who can help coordinate the delivery of the medication can contact Ferrer directly at the number +1 305 970 8858.
In the video shared by the opposition leader, the baby's grandmother explains that the child remains hospitalized in critical condition with an uncertain prognosis in the intensive care unit of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes provincial hospital in Bayamo, after contracting a bacteria during her stay at the health center.
According to her testimony, the medical staff has done "the impossible" to save her, but the lack of the antibiotic Aztreonam in Cuba has prevented them from eliminating the infection.
The minor is currently on assisted ventilation and undergoing multiple invasive procedures, while her life depends on urgently obtaining that medication.
The family, described as humble, is desperately seeking help to obtain the medication abroad and have it sent to the island through travelers who can transport it in the coming days. They claim that the medication is not available in Bayamo or anywhere else in the country.
The case is not an isolated incident. The shortage of antibiotics for newborns and infants has become a recurring and deadly pattern in Cuba.
In January 2023, eight newborns died at the Diez de Octubre Gyneco-Obstetric Hospital in Havana due to sepsis in just 16 days.
During that same period, a Cuban doctor publicly requested help for her own newborn daughter who needed Aztreonam, a broad-spectrum antibiotic that was also unavailable in the country.
The situation has not improved. In February 2026, Dr. Liliam Delgado Peruyera, from the main maternity hospital in Havana, reported the deaths of three newborns in a single month, which she described as the highest number she recalls in a single month.
Pediatric hospitals in Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas, and Camagüey were also reported that month by families who raised concerns about the lack of essential medications, including antipyretics and antibiotics.
The Cuban healthcare system currently operates with only 30% of the essential medicines available.
The infant mortality rate closed 2025 at 9.9 per thousand live births, according to official data from the Ministry of Public Health published in January 2026, nearly triple the 3.9 recorded in 2018.
Havana records the highest rate in the country, with 14 per every thousand live births.
More than 11,193 children are on the surgical waiting list nationwide, within a general total of 96,387 patients.
Power outages lasting up to twenty hours a day further worsen the situation, impacting medical equipment, the cold chain for vaccines, and the operation of ambulances.
In March 2026, the Director-General of the World Health Organization described the health situation in Cuba as deeply concerning, while the UN seeks urgent solutions to the collapse of the health system on the island.
The practice of turning to social media to obtain medication for sick children has become common in Cuba, with documented cases since 2020.
Behind each post is a family facing a crisis alone, a direct consequence of 67 years of communist dictatorship and the collapse of a healthcare system that the regime presented for decades as one of its main accomplishments.
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